Strato of Lampsacus - Modern Era

Modern Era

Strato's name meant little in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, however, in the 17th century his name suddenly became famous because of the supposed similarities between his system and the pantheistic views of Spinoza. Ralph Cudworth, in choosing to attack atheism in 1678, chose Strato's system as one of four types of atheism, and in doing so, coined the term hylozoism to describe any system where primitive matter is endowed with a life-force. These ideas reached Pierre Bayle, who adopted Strato and 'Stratonism' as key components of his own philosophy. In his Continuation des Pensees diverses, published in 1705, Stratonism had become the most important ancient equivalent of Spinozism. For Bayle, Strato had made everything follow a fixed order of necessity, with no innate good or bad in the universe; the universe is not a living thing with intelligence or intent, and there is no other divine power but nature.